Ed Bullins
| Ed Bullins | |
|---|---|
| Born |
July 2, 1935 Philadelphia, PA, USA |
| Occupation | Playwright |
| Literary movement | Black Arts Movement |
| Notable awards | Guggenheim Fellowship, Obie Award |
Ed Bullins (born July 2, 1935 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is an African-American playwright. He was also the Minister of Culture for the Black Panthers. In addition, he has won numerous awards, including the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award and several Obie Awards. He is one of the best known playwrights to come from the Black Arts Movement.
Bullins was born July 2, 1935 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His parents were Bertha Marie Queen and Edward Bullins. He was raised primarily by his mother. As a child he attended predominantly white schools and became involved with gangs. He attended Franklin High School, where he was stabbed in a gang-related incident. Shortly thereafter, he quit high school and joined the navy. During this period he won a boxing championship and started reading. He returned to Philadelphia and enrolled in night school. He stayed until 1958 when he went to Los Angeles leaving behind a wife and children. After receiving his G.E.D., he enrolled in Los Angeles City College and he began writing short stories for the Citadel, a magazine he created. In 1964, he went to San Francisco and joined the creative writing program at San Francisco State College. This is where he started writing plays. His first play was How Do You Do, immediately followed by Clara's Ole Man and Dialect Determinism.
After seeing Amiri Baraka's play Dutchman, Bullins felt that Baraka's artistic purpose was similar to his own. As a result, he joined Baraka at "Black House", BAM's cultural center, which included Sonia Sanchez, Huey Newton, poet Marvin X, and others. The Black House strongly believed in the concept of "Protest Theatre". The Black Panthers used Black House as their base in San Francisco, which briefly allowed Bullins to be their Minister of Culture. Eventually, Black House found itself split into two factions. One group considered art to be a weapon and advocated joining with whites to achieve political ends. The other group saw art as a form of cultural nationalism and didn't want to work with whites. Bullins was a part of the latter group.
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